While North Korea’s COVID-19 containment measures are already showing negative impacts on its economy, the pandemic is just the latest challenge to the country’s economic development plans. The North’s relatively promising economic outlook in 2016 was dealt a devastating blow in 2017, as its barrage of nuclear and missile testing brought about intensified sanctions and economic contraction. Despite robust diplomatic engagements with South Korea and the US over the next two years, the failure to secure any level of sanctions relief led Kim Jong Un at the end of 2019 to set forth a new approach to economic policy and management, one that reflects the harsh political realities and emphasizes rational economic management. While the pandemic has exacerbated negative trends in North Korea’s economy, the challenges ahead remain fundamentally the same as before: finding ways to amend the social contract between the state and the people, balance regime survival and economic development, and increase trade and economic engagement while under the heavy veil of sanctions.
